Netflix to Reach 100 Million Subscribers

Paul Rubens - April 18, 2017 - 04:47 AM

Netflix's subscriber growth shows no sign of slowing, with almost half its customers coming from outside the U.S.

(CCM) — Netflix is preparing to celebrate signing up the 100 millionth subscriber to its online video streaming service — suggesting that people are more interested in watching TV shows and movies than in streaming music, according to an Atlanta Journal Constitutionreport. Spotify, the most popular music streaming service, boasts around 50 million subscribers. Apple Music, which enjoyed a high profile launch in June 2015, has just reached 20 million subscribers. Netflix started as a DVD rental business in 1998, but launched its video streaming service in 2007. Since then, its subscriber base has grown rapidly. Five million new customers signed up for its streaming service in the first three months of 2017 alone.

"What really did it for Netflix was the explosion of phones and tablets that allowed people to watch video everywhere," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, in the report. "But Netflix clearly had a vision before those devices became so ubiquitous," he added.

Reed Hastings, Netflix's chief executive, believes that the company's subscriber base will continue to increase on the back of original content, including shows such as "Stranger Things." "Everybody watches TV and nearly everybody has the internet, so I don't see anything that's going to stop Netflix from getting to most people in the United States and then eventually hopefully most people around the world," Hastings said.